9/1/2023 0 Comments Brian hamilton writer![]() ![]() With that out of the way, let’s get right to it. So before you go onto r/onetruegod and write nasty posts questioning my viewing methods, know that I did my best to appreciate The Wicker Man with all the integrity that it’s due. ![]() I spared no expense to make sure that I experienced this important film as perfectly as possible I found a 4:3 pan-and-scan copy and calibrated my sound equipment precisely to accentuate bees buzzing and nonsensical screaming. “Up Here” thus plays like an experiment that doesn’t entirely work, featuring energetic numbers but stretching the material beyond its weight at eight episodes.Ĭhalk it up, perhaps appropriately, as another one of those situations where the idea surely sounded better in everyone’s head, ultimately, than it does in the execution.Before I get into the actual review, I’d like to clarify for all of the Wicker Man purists out there that yes, I watched the canonical unrated version of the film with the more graphic (yet shorter) ending. Still, in musicals the songs ultimately work to service and advance the story, and in the case of “Up Here” that consists of throwing one monkey wrench after another into the gears of Lindsay and Miguel’s relationship, in a way that quickly grows a bit tedious. Much of that unfolds via song, while shrewdly incorporating supporting players with strong musical-theater credentials like Brian Stokes Mitchell to augment those performances.ĭecades after “Cop Rock” became (unfairly) synonymous with disaster, it’s nice to see musical series becoming more regular TV fixtures thanks in part to streaming, whether that’s Apple TV+’s “Schmigadoon!” (which will receive an encore in April) or the upcoming “Grease” prequel. Set in 1999 on the verge of the new century, the show certainly has a write-what-you-know feel to it, as Lindsay and Miguel, each sweetly vulnerable, must work through their respective baggage if their relationship is going to have any chance. ![]() On the subject of impure thoughts, for example, the little voice represented by Lindsay’s mom (Katie Finneran) tells her, “You keep those things up here in your head where nobody else can see them.”Ĭarlos Valdes and Scott Porter perform a musical number in "Up Here." Sarah Shatz/Hulu The gimmick is that the audience is privy to both central characters’ innermost thoughts, as they interact with a trio of figures from their pasts (including her parents and a school friend, and his mom and his girlfriend’s lover) to give voice to their insecurities. The setbacks come fast and hard, but there’s at least a ray of personal hope when she meets an investment banker, Miguel (“The Flash’s” Carlos Valdes), himself recovering from a bad breakup having walked in on his girlfriend with another guy. Blessed with an A-plus creative pedigree that includes the director of “Hamilton,” writer of “Tick, Tick … Boom!” and songwriters behind “Frozen,” “Up Here” joins the growing list of musical series, in what amounts to a young-adult version of “Inside Out.” The show, however, isn’t as good as its auspices, and the music can’t mask the thinness of the story, translating into a pretty flat episodic rom-com, just with a better-than-average beat.Īdapted from the musical by the husband-and-wife team of Robert Lopez (a member of the exclusive EGOT club) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (in addition to “Frozen,” known for “The Book of Mormon”), collaborating with director Thomas Kail and writer Stephen Levenson, the series features an aspiring writer, Lindsay (Mae Whitman), chucking it all, including her caricature of a boyfriend, to see if she can make it as a writer in New York. ![]()
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